Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski re-opened communications with Donald Trump last week after relentlessly attacking the president-elect as a wannabe dictator who poses an existential threat to the American way of life.
Scarborough and Brzezinski revealed Monday morning that they flew to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago compound for their first in-person meeting with him in seven years. They discussed a number of different issues where they disagree with the president-elect, but they did agree to re-open communications with Trump now that the American people have elected him decisively.
Joe and Mika went to Mar a Lago to talk with Trump over the weekend. First face-to-face meeting in seven years. “We didn’t see eye-to-eye on a lot of issues and we told him so,” @JoeNBC says. “What we did agree on – was to restart communications,” @morningmika says. pic.twitter.com/lyWZWK4CwX
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) November 18, 2024
“Joe and I went to Mar-a-Lago to meet personally with President-elect Trump. It was the first time we have seen him in seven years,” Brzezinski said.
“We talked about a lot of issues including abortion, mass deportation, threats of political retribution against political opponents and media outlets,” Scarborough added. “We didn’t see eye-to-eye on a lot of issues and we told him so.”
The pair went on to explain to viewers why they have decided to re-engage with Trump and raised the possibility of Trump seeking common ground with Democrats.
“For nearly 80 million Americans, election denialism, public trials, January 6th were not as important as the issues that moved them to send Donald Trump back to the White House with their vote,” Brzezinski said.
“Joe and I realized it’s time to do something different. And that starts with not only talking about Donald Trump but also talking with him.”
Scarborough followed up by describing his conversations with top Democrats about working with Trump and taking a different approach than his first term. Then, both hosts reassured viewers they would continue covering Trump critically rather than defending him.
The rhetoric from Scarborough and Brzezinski sharply contrasts with Morning Joe’s coverage of Trump leading up to this election. The hosts frequently aired segments about Trump being an authoritarian threat to democracy and spoke about the election in existential terms.
“This is an increasingly desperate person. An increasingly desperate family, who is preparing for civil war,” Scarborough said of Trump last month. He was responding to the “enemy from within” rhetoric Trump used to describe his political opponents.
On election day, historian Jon Meachem appeared on Morning Joe and suggested Trump would ban historians from writing books if he returns to office and likened him to fascist dictators.
Morning Joe interviewed Trump dozens of times during his 2016 candidacy, giving him valuable free airtime on his way to a shocking upset of Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. Afterwards, the show was one of many MSNBC programs dedicated to non-stop opposition to Trump and his administration.
During the Biden years, Morning Joe became the president’s favorite program and he often consulted the show’s frequent guests, Axios reported. Once Biden dropped out of the presidential race, Scarborough and Brezezinski threw their weight behind Kamala Harris’s failed campaign against Donald Trump.
In the wake of Trump’s win, MSNBC’s ratings plunged over 50 percent while rival Fox News experienced a 61 percent jump. The left-wing network’s primetime hosts saw a 54 percent drop in ratings as viewers tuned out its coverage.